Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1887-01-23
THE RICHMOND DISPATCH SUNDAY JANUARY %, 1887

n4eH tillS tune, lnelr SlOWneHS ue-
lighted him. he drove with the utmost
caution--the most extraordinary care.
IL even occurred to fair Helen within
that the TreveDninRs coachman was
leech Of the first water, but he could
rot bring himself to hurry up the
horses even 70 please her. Thcy were
alone, he and she-as utterly alone in
the great heart Of town rs lovers soul
could desire. Separated only by
miserable partition of wood and paint
and padding-a trumpery separation
that t delighted him to think be could
smash into bits in no time.
In spite Of himself, however, he had
/ 10 get 10 the house ut last, and with
pang he watched the tall, slender figure
/ go up 10 the hall door. She had left
/ him-and this carriage, which from
henceforth would be sacred to him.
/ Should he ever see her again, once
| those doors opened 10 receive here
! Meantime the senselcss doors seemed
slow to grasp their prize. Fair Helen
/ knocked, first i'll a reasonable way, then
/ loudly-then louder still. She pulled
the bell with a marvellous vigor for one
50 delicate i'll face and form. But an
I swer came there none. SIR Dudley,
very much against his WILL sat holding
the reins, longing yet fearing TO go TO
/ her assistance, and glad in the thought
I that he need not leave her until he saw
/ her safely indoors. Presently it began
to dawn upon him that this would not
he Immediately.
Again she knocked; again she rang
with quite the same result. He was
watching her anxiously, and now he
saw that she turned her face to him
with suspicion of nervousness in her
manner and as though she found com
fort in the knowledge that he was still
there. That glance undid him ! The
unconscious appeal in her eyes made
him oblivious of all other considera-
tons. and, springing down from his
seat, ne fastened to her side.
ALLOW, me, he said gently, and,
taking the knOcker from her fingers.
beat resounding rat-a-tat-tat upon the
door He was delighted with the
/ knocker Action of any sort that wonld
be in her service he was longing for
Just then. and, nothing else presenting
itself, he worked of this longing on the
unoflending door He was, indeed, so
engrosscd with his desire to awake the
sleeping household that he quite forgot
that state of life into which he had eli
tered to obige his sisters, and was
therefore the more startled and con
founded when presently he found her
ewes fixed upon him with an intensity
suggestive of establishment. Her eX-
preston was a curious blending Of sur
prise and bcwilderment, and there was,
too, he thought, little measincss i'll it.
II all flashed upon him III second.
There me stood. in the Travcnning liv-
cry from the knees mp. and for the rest
there WAS light tweed trousers and
pair of boots that servants as a rule do
not aspire to- Tie became at the same
time conscious that his gloves were alb
Hrdly too big for him, and that the hat
vas ludicrous on his head, at all events,
whatever it might be on that of the
venerable Martin. Truly this mad
freak of Lis was costing him dear
In one wild moment ne fclt that to cut
and nun WIS all that was left INN. but
presently hc rallied.
" I'm afraid they are all asleep,
NJ. hc said, being so dcslrous oi
making "a point Of the respectful VI
that be oycrdid it terribly, and left
matters worse than they were before.
- am afraid so too" replied she
steadily. though she still regarded him
with an evident dstrust that seemed
To grow as the moments wancd Ny
maid was to have sat up for me, but !
suppose she VIII Won knock again.
please
lie did knock again; with redoubled
ardor this time. 10 was as anxious
now rs she was to get the COMPOUNDED
door open. That distrustful glance
had hurt him sorcly. He felt all the
time hc was hammcring away at the
knockcr that her eyes were fixed OF
the mlucky trousers, and as for the
hat. Once again memory rose 10
make him yrctched. Hc recollectcd
the fatal likeness that existed between
him and Mrs. Treyennin@, and he
tanned down the big hat well over
his brow with view to conceahng
from her tie family features Ii he
JAILED in this, he succeeded at all
events in making himself grotesque
in an unusually high degree.
The knockngangthrough the empty
air. and, dying away, left an unna-
tural silence behind it. The day had
broken. and now still, pale, ghostly
light crept slowly over the housetops
and trembled through the street. The
sweet. cold smell of dawn came to
them through all the smoke and de
( preston of the great city beyond, and
vet il seemed to them that the beauty
Of the fresh young morn had something
Of sadness in it, The stiffness was al
most oppressive. Fair Helen stood
motionless, little pale. while Sir bud
lev. in his motley garments, waited
with throbbing heart Tor some
sonnd-a footstep-inside this terrible
door that should put an end to a mo-
ment 50 charged with difficulties. What
an unearthly quiet! Why did she not
say something?
Suddenly, with an appalling yell such
as "a cal AUNT Ntil EiNNs a. A''tA4 r'----.''
kin rushed across the street and dislp-
peared into some unseen corner. II was
a wicked, yengeful cry, and 50 startled
fair Helen that she iBstinctively shank
backward and faint exclamation broke
from her lips.
ooh! Will they never open the
door," she said family. He caught
hurried glance 50 full of nervous sus.
melon that it Mortified him. Good
heavens, that she should look at him
ike that He could not tell, of course.
that with the hat thus pressed upon his
forehead. and coming down almost to
his nose. he looked like nothing 50
much as Il burglar, unless it might be q
murderer, and felt a rather hurt aston
ishment that she should so unkindly re
gard him.
As he still pondered on this there
came nj last distant sound from with
in: nearer ii came, until there could be
10 mistake at all about It's beng a foot
step.
dAh!" cried she. with such an unde-
uiable air of relief that Dudley knew
himself finally crushed. The door was
opened by frightened, sleepy maid,
4 ILL.,, s4opuo1 ruick IL into the safe